Omid Namazi Chosen as New U.S. WNT Assistant Coach

U.S. WNT head coach Tom Sermanni announced Wednesday that Omid Namazi is leaving his position as assistant coach of Iran men’s national team and has accepted the assistant coach position with the U.S. women.

Namazi comes to the U.S. WNT with a ton of experience in coaching both men’s and women’s soccer and also played 18 years of professional soccer following college at West Virginia.

He served as head coach of the San Diego Spirit of the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), leading them to the playoffs in 20013. In 2010 he was also the head coach for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS.

Namazi wraps up a successful year with Iran’s national team, helping them qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a successful finish in the Asian qualifying tournament that put them at the top of Group A. He has been with the team since 2010.

Before his coaching career Namazi played both indoor and outdoor soccer and was awarded MISL Defender of the Year in 2001 when he played for the Philadelphia KiXX.

“It’s a new challenge and an exciting one,”Namazi told USSoccer. “It’s a great time for women’s soccer in the United States with the NWSL starting its second season, our Youth National Teams getting more and more support from U.S. Soccer and with the 2015 Women’s World Cup on the horizon. I’m sincerely enjoying working with some of the best players in the world and helping work to bring the team to an even higher level.”

About Courtney Lambert

A competitive athlete in her college days, Courtney writes on events happening at state and local level. She has previous experience covering news and writing for the Jacksonville Times Union and graduated from the University of North Florida with a degree in journalism.